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LETTER: End the apathy toward federal takeover

Posted:
07/25/2013 09:37:50 AM EDT

Updated:
07/25/2013 09:37:56 AM EDT

Our Constitution set up three branches of government so that there would be a balance of power. According to the Constitution, the Congress is authorized to pass laws, it is the responsibility of the executive branch to administer the laws passed by Congress, and the judiciary interprets the laws for conformity with the Constitution.

Today our government is dysfunctional. The Congress is unable to pass necessary laws for the good of the people. The judiciary does not interpret laws for conformity with the Constitution; instead they decide issues on the basis of their own philosophy. We have now digressed to a regulatory, administrative form of government.

The executive branch is now able to create bureaucracies headed by directors responding to the president, not Congress. Regulations created by these bureaucracies replace laws that should be passed by Congress with public debate.

Common Core is an example. The Department of Education created "Race to the Top." State's cash-strapped departments of education were coerced into accepting Common Core if they wanted the funds included in "Race to the Top." Both Congress and state legislatures were bypassed.

There are many more examples of federal encroachment on individual rights. These all sound innocuous and come with funds as an enticement. While Common Core deserves our attention, we must not lose sight of the overall picture. The apathy of the past has gotten us in the present predicament and unless citizens become more proactive the federal takeover trend will continue.

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Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean that politics won't take an interest in you -- Pericles, 430 B.C.